Desert, desserts, and didgeridoos!

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G’day Mates!

It’s Monday night and we are back to reality in
Sydney
(which isn’t exactly a bad reality :)We had the most amazing, phenomenal, spectacularly blessed
weekend ever
in Uluru (Ayers Rock).I don’t
even know where to start and there is no way I can keep this short. I
will try my best to give you a brief overview of the highlights. The
entire trip was amazing, once in a lifetime, and
over the top special.We knew we
were going to be in a special place, but nothing can really explain how
amazing
this weekend was.This trip was
right up there with Africa – actually the entire time we were there I
kept
thinking about the amazing trip to Africa and how Longitude 131 reminded
me of
all the “tent” camps we stayed at on that trip (they actually designed
it after camps in Botswana).I guess it makes sense
because Unchartered Outposts works
exclusively with Longitude 131.Longitude 131 is by far the nicest place (all around) that I’ve
ever
stayed in.Everything was 5 Star
including the location, view, service, accommodation, food, and the
tours!There were only 15 tents – 30 people
maximum aloud at the resort and we never had more than 20-25 people on
our
tours.The service was amazing…
the staff went far above and beyond to make sure that our stay was
perfect.Some examples include
Justin, our waiter, came RUNNING about 50 meters from the Dune House
(the
restaurant/reception area) so that Oscar could get in the picture with
me of
our tent… he also had the chef type me up the recipe for the brownie
that I had
that day (which was amazing) and they found me a CD that was in our room
that I
liked that they no longer sold (it was retired) and gave me one on
departure
for free!!!Anything we asked for
we got… we were definitely spoiled.All of the food was incredible and we were so blessed with the
weather
conditions.

The first night we were able to see an awesome
sunset over
Uluru.Uluru is really special and
it was a gorgeous sunset that made it change colors from bright orange,
to red,
to purple.After the sunset
viewing we then heading to Table 131 to have the dining under the stars.In the middle of the Outback they set
up a beautiful candle lit table and served us the most amazing dinner of
pumpkin ginger soup, almond encrusted Barramundi, and a strawberry
dessert
plate (with 3 different types of desserts – I don’t even know how to
describe
them – YUM!)Every course was
served with a different wine from Australia or New Zealand – I guess
they were
very good wines – I’m not exactly a wine person and they all tasted
gross to me
: ) haha.Anyway, at first it was
super cloudy so we were afraid that we wouldn’t get to see a lot of
stars, but
about half way through dinner the sky opened up and stars popped out
everywhere.It was so
special.They had an astrologer
come and explain all of the constellations and point things out.Since
we are in the Southern Hemisphere
we got to see totally different things.We saw Venus, Mars, Jupiter, the Southern Cross, Scorpio, and we
actually got to see an arm of the Milky Way!Oscar was in
heaven and this was the highlight of his trip –
I’m not quite sure I have a highlight – everything was amazing!

The next morning we woke up at 5:15 and went for a
sunrise
walk around the base of Uluru.It
was beautiful and we got to spend the rest of the day going to the
cultural
centre and seeing a lot of Uluru including the water hole and many
sacred
places to the Aborigines.After
that we had a lazy afternoon enjoying a wonderful lunch at the Dune
house and
enjoying our “tent” and the views from our room.That
afternoon we went back to another section of Uluru and
got to see several caves and gorges of Uluru.The 2nd
evening they served another 4-course
dinner, this time at the Dune house.We were joined by a fellow guest and had a wonderful evening.Everyone at Longitude 131 was really
nice and very interesting.We were
by far the youngest people there, and the poorest too (Longitude is
$1600 a night) - : ) But everyone was
super friendly, and very well traveled and it was very interesting
hearing
their travels and stories.One of
my favorite couples was probably in their 70’s and they had been all
over the
world.The lady told me that she
was called a SKI (which means Spending our Kids Inheritance).I
loved that and thought that that’s
everyone should be doing!

Well, that evening it rained kangaroos and
koalas!It poured down rain the entire evening
and was still raining when we woke up at 6:00 the next morning (now
remember
this is the middle of the desert and it almost never rains like that
here).We were afraid that our
last trip to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) would be canceled and we’d have to
spend
our last day inside, but instead they made the wonderful decision to
take us
back to Uluru so we could see the very rare site of waterfalls on Uluru.The great thing about Longitude is that
they customized the trips to the people and weather.We
were always the first ones there (since we were the
closest) and it made it so much more special with only 20 people and a
small
bus.When we were leaving coach
buses started arriving and it got really crowded.

We were told that only 5% of people that visit
Uluru get to
see the waterfalls and one tour guide had been living and working there
for 4
years and this was only the 2nd time he saw this!It
was amazing, and so special to get
to see.We then headed to Kata
Tjuta. Unfortunately, because of the rain we couldn’t do the walk inside
the gorge,
but at least we got to see it and it was pretty spectacular to see the
cloud of
fog inside the gorge.We ended the
trip with a final wonderful brunch.Overall, the entire trip was amazing.If you ever
get the chance to go to Uluru, and you have the
resources you HAVE to splurge and stay at Longitude 131 – it is worth
every
penny!We were spoiled and a bit
sad to leave, but we felt that we really made the most of it and got to
do
everything that we wanted to do there, so we were happy when it was time
to say
goodbye.

When we arrived back in Sydney and took a cab to
our home in
Paddington we headed out to grab some dinner… our first thought as we
were
walking down Hopewell Street was… “well, this surely isn’t a shabby
place to
come back to”.

This was our first adventure of many in Australia
and we are
so blessed to have had this opportunity.We think seeing the Outback was a great way to start and we can’t
wait
to share more adventures with you in the future.Oscar is
now back to school, and I’m working my 9-5.Next trip on
the list is Fiji in
December.I wonder if we will be
able to top this weekend?